Hipsters for the day in Silver Lake, CA!
Micheltorena Street in Silver Lake; next 5 all Vivier and Bentley; Hemingway & Pickett; Proof Bakery; nibbles and a latte at Proof; next 3 all Individual Medley; "street art" in Silver Lake; Lamill Coffee; Lake; Yolk; Covell wine bar; the Oyster Po Boy at Little Dom's. All images taken by moi except for Covell via laist.com and Little Dom's Oyster Po boy via 99 Plates.
It had been ages since I had been to Silver Lake. With new spots opening, craving some urban culture and a new "less preppy more edgy look," Napper and I made the drive across town last weekend. Urban hipster field trip! With suggestions by Fathom's Crystal Meers in hand, and some other hot tips from friends and bloggers, we felt ready to take on one of the coolest neighborhoods in LA.
In a serendipitous and wonderful turn of events, our first stop was the usually closed on Sundays Vivier and Bentley. Happily Kathryn Bentley, Bentley of her namesake store, was running in to collect her wares for a trade show and let us in. And here's what awaited: vibrantly colored leather goods by her partner Claire Vivier, enamel and beaded boho chic jewels from Kathryn Bentley's Dream Collective (I walked out with a stack of bracelets!), badass belts from a neighborhood designer, an array of melon and blue and white striped espadrilles, housewares, oh I could go on and on! I seriously could have bought the whole store. Kathryn added to our list of suggestions for where to go next and off we went.
After trying on very urban fabulous sunglasses at Gogosha, perusing housewares and gifts in the well curated Hemingway & Pickett, it was time for a lunch break. Not knowing our way around, we made a slight detour (about ten minutes) to Atwater Village to hit Proof Bakery. We refueled on delicious mini-baguette sandwiches-- prosciutto and butter and another with beets, a Financier poppy seed type muffin and one of the best lattes. Walking back to the car, we noticed Individual Medley, a three week old his and his boutique selling clothing at reasonable price points that conjure up a feelings of the prairie and Brooklyn all rolled into one.
We hopped back in the car and stopped into Mohawk General Store-- uber cool but uber pricey; the Reform School, yet another fantastic gift store, and then meandered (by car) to Lamill Coffee, the absolute nicest coffee shop I've ever seen with turquoise shagreen covered chairs and chandeliers- tres elegant. We then popped into Lake, an incredibly well edited shop selling Isabel Marant, housewares, and more- bright, upbeat, love this shop, and Yolk, the third gift store of the day, tons of stuff for kids, hostess gifts, etc. We were hoping to check out the newly opened L & E Oyster Bar across the street. Alas, they are closed on Sundays. Boo! Good reason to return.
We placated ourselves by going to Covell, L&E's sister wine bar for rose and a delicious flat bread with veggies and cheese. Cool crowd, cool bartenders/owners who know their stuff and are refreshingly unpretentious. Our final stop was a delightful and lively dinner at the bar of one of our favorite East side haunts-- Little Dom's.
After an incredibly full day, we were feeling in love with the variety of Los Angeles and very, very hip by process of osmosis. Our Silver Lake field trips will become a regular thing.... and now I've got to bring Lu on over to show her all our discoveries.